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After turmoil, Sanders, Mrs. Obama, Warren thrill convention

Mayor Walsh opens up during remarks

Amidst a thunderous ovation from the crowd at the DNC, Sanders urged everyone to get behind Hillary Clinton in order to defeat Donald Trump.

After turmoil, Sanders, Mrs. Obama, Warren thrill convention

Mayor Walsh opens up during remarks

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Updated: 11:57 PM EDT Jul 25, 2016

PHILADELPHIA —

Ending months of animosity, Bernie Sanders robustly embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton Monday night as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling it was time for them, too, to rally behind the Democratic nominee in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump.

"Any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention.

First lady Michelle Obama stepped into the presidential election Monday with a forceful, impassioned defense of Hillary Clinton, casting her as the only candidate who can be trusted as a role model for the nation's children. She took numerous swipes at Republican Donald Trump, all without mentioning his name.

"I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white," Mrs. Obama said. Referring to Trump's penchant for tweeting, she said of the presidency: "It cannot be boiled down to 140 characters."

The first lady was among a high-wattage line-up of speakers taking the stage, all but wiping away earlier tumult that had exposed deep tensions between Clinton supporters and those loyal to her primary opponent Bernie Sanders.

While Mrs. Obama has often avoided overt politics during her nearly eight years in the White House, her frustration with Trump's rise was evident. She warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with "a thin skin or a tendency to lash out" or someone who tells voters the country can be great again.

"This right now, is the greatest country on earth," she said.

"Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred," Warren said in excerpts released ahead of her speech. "By turning neighbor against neighbor. By persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans - people who don't look like you, or don't talk like you, or don't worship like you."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh opened up to the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia as Democrats try to keep infighting from overtaking an opening night featuring some of the party's biggest stars.

"My name is Marty Walsh and I'm an alcoholic," Walsh said at the beginning of his speech, detailing how he hit rock bottom in 1995. "I woke up with little memory of the night before and less hope of the days to come."

Walsh said the labor movement and his family kept him afloat, giving him a new lease on life. "There's no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton is the champion that American workers need," Walsh said. "We may not have our names in gold outside any of the buildings we've worked on, but our sweat, our work, our pride is on the inside of every single one of them.”

Walsh's speech was an indication of a call for unity in the Democratic Party to vanquish Donald Trump's campaign. Clinton's campaign hoped the nighttime line-up would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. The release of hacked party emails revealed the Democratic National Committee had favored Clinton over Sanders in the primary, despite vows of neutrality. The uproar led to the forced resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

While her ouster was a major victory for Sanders, it wasn't enough to ease the frustration of his supporters. Chants of "Bernie" echoed through the arena as the convention opened, and boos could be heard at times when Clinton's name was raised.

Outside the convention hall, several hundred Sanders backers marched down Philadelphia's sweltering streets. Signs carried messages such as "Never Hillary," and police said 55 people were cited for disorderly conduct after trying to climb barricades near the Democratic convention.

For Clinton, it was a turbulent start to a historic gathering that will culminate in the nomination of the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. It also sapped some of her energy coming out of Trump's chaotic convention last week and the well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

Clinton's team hoped Wasserman Schultz's resignation - along with an apology from the DNC to Sanders and his supporters - would keep the convention floor calm. But Sanders' aides reached out to the Clinton campaign Monday afternoon to express concerns that supporters would still try to disrupt the proceedings, according to a Democratic official.

The discussions between the two camps prompted Sanders to send emails and text messages to supporters asking them not to protest.

"Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," Sanders wrote.

The party infighting had echoes of last week's Republican convention, where some major GOP leaders voiced their displeasure with Trump and others didn't even show up. Clinton promised a stark contrast to the GOP gathering, saying she planned to highlight "success stories" and flesh out details of her proposed policies.

Indeed, the convention featured young immigrants speaking of their love for America and labor leaders backing Democratic economic policies. The program was also chockfull of up-and-coming Democratic lawmakers.

Wasserman Schultz had planned to be among those taking the stage, despite the email hacking controversy. But she stepped aside, bowing to pressure from Democrats who feared the mere sight of her on stage would prompt strong opposition from Sanders' backers.

Sanders was a relatively unknown Vermont senator when he decided to challenge for the Democratic nomination. He stunned the Clinton campaign with his broad support among young people and liberals, as well as his online fundraising prowess. But he struggled to appeal to black voters and couldn't match the former secretary of state's ties to the Democratic establishment.

Sanders previewed his remarks during an appearance earlier Monday before supportive delegates. He implored them to vote for Clinton, generating a chorus of boos.

"Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," Sanders said as he tried to quiet the crowd. "Trump is a bully and a demagogue."

The controversy over some 19,000 leaked DNC emails, however, threatened to complicate those plans. The correspondence, posted by WikiLeaks over the weekend, showed top officials at the supposedly neutral DNC favoring Clinton over Sanders in the presidential primaries.

Clinton campaign officials blamed the hack, which is now being investigated by the FBI, on Russian military intelligence agencies. The campaign also accused Moscow of trying to meddle in the U.S. election and help Trump, who has said he might not necessarily defend NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia.

Trump dismissed the suggestion in a tweet: "The joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me."

A cybersecurity firm the Democrats employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on their network - both of which have ties to the Russian government. Those hackers took at least a year's worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.